INFLUENCES ON THE FANTASY GENRE

Influences on the fantasy genre
The enormous popularity of Tolkien's epic saga greatly expanded the demand for fantasy fiction. Largely thanks to The Lord of the Rings, the genre flowered throughout the 1960s. Many other books in a broadly similar vein have subsequently been published, including the Earthsea books of Ursula K. Le Guin, The Riftwar Saga by Raymond Feist, The Belgariad by David Eddings, The Sword of Shannara by Terry Brooks, the Thomas Covenant novels of Stephen R. Donaldson; the "Wheel of Time" books of Robert Jordan, and, in the case of the Gormenghast books by Mervyn Peake and The Worm Ouroboros by E. R. Eddison, rediscovered.
With a significant overlapping of their respective followings, there has been and still is extensive cross-pollination of influence between the fantasy and science fiction genres. In this way, the work also had an influence upon such science fiction authors as Frank Herbert and Arthur C. Clarke[53[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lord_of_the_ring#cite_note-52|]]] and filmmakers such as George Lucas.[54[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lord_of_the_ring#cite_note-53|]]]
It is often assumed[clarification needed] to have strongly influenced the role-playing game (RPG) industry which achieved popularity in the 1970s with Dungeons & Dragons, a game which features many races found in The Lord of the Rings, most notably halflings (another term for hobbits), elves, dwarves, half-elves, orcs, and dragons. However, Gary Gygax, lead designer of the game, maintained that he was influenced very little by The Lord of the Rings, stating that he included these elements as a marketing move to draw on the popularity the work enjoyed at the time he was developing the game.[55[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lord_of_the_ring#cite_note-54|]]] Many also believe[clarification needed] that some popular video games have been influenced by the legacy of The Lord of the Rings, with titles such as Ultima, EverQuest, and the Warcraft series, but moreover the 'Elder Scrolls" series of games[56[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lord_of_the_ring#cite_note-55|]]] as well as, quite naturally, video games set in Middle-earth itself.
As in all artistic fields, a great many lesser derivatives of the more prominent works appeared. The term "Tolkienesque" is used in the genre to refer to the oft-used and abused storyline of The Lord of the Rings: a group of adventurers embarking on a quest to save a magical fantasy world from the armies of an evil dark lord, and is a testament to how much the popularity of these books has increased, since many critics initially decried it as being "Wagner for children" (a reference to Der Ring des Nibelungen) — an especially interesting commentary in light of a possible interpretation of the novel as a Christian response to Wagner.[57[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lord_of_the_ring#cite_note-56|]]] The book also helped popularize alternative spellings for the plurals of elf and dwarf (using -ves instead of -fs).